If your roof is easily accessible, then it’s certainly recommended; however, many rooftops are not easy to get to and can pose great risks to your safety. So for those cases, it’s best to just save the snow removal for the aftermath of a heavy snow storm.Do you need to clean solar panels every time it snows?

What are some different ways to remove snow from solar panels?

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty, shall we? The following are 5 methods to remove snow from solar panels. Depending on the type of roof and house, one or more of the options mentioned below may work better than others.

1. Wait for it. Waiting for the snow to melt on its own is the simplest solution for those who own solar panels that are pitched at an angle of at least 35 degrees. In this case, snow will melt and run off on its own – the steeper it is, the faster snow will essentially glide off.
2. Hose it. For some owners, spraying the panels above the rooftop is a convenient method, but be advised when it comes to extreme temperature differences. You want the snow to wash off rather than turn into ice.
3. Sweep it. Although this is an option, it’s not the most widely recommended due to its risky nature. For some, roof rakes seem to do the trick, but make sure it’s attached to something like a squeegee to prevent damaging your system.
4. Heat it. I don’t mean blasting your system with fire at all, but some owners have actually been creative by connecting a leaf blower to long plastic air hoses or PVC pipes to either blow snow off the panels or produce warm air that will help melt the snow.
5. Throw a nerf football at it. Gather your friends and have a friendly game of snow panel football! Kidding aside, there has been wide discussion about using a nerf ball to move snow from the panels in order to help snow melt faster. This is probably more probable for snow cases that aren’t extremely heavy.

Some things you might want to avoid doing are putting rock salt, car wax, or even RainX on the snow covered panels. This will probably damage your roof shingles and do more harm than good. Also, NEVER use hot water on your cold panels or you could risk fracturing them!

My best recommendation is always to ask a professional rather than do things on your own. Why? Because the damage caused by experimentation can cost you more than you bargained for and waste your perfectly beneficial investment.

wouldn’t it be nice if the panels were manufactured to accept a short period of reverse dc voltage to produce enough heat in the panels to melt the snow enough for it to slide off, then return the voltage to it’s normal direction. A simple photo cell could trigger the reversal when it noticed that there was plenty of light but no solar production. Unfortunately I have no idea if reversing the current would produce heat in the cells : (

Reasonably

Someone in the solar industry needs to develop heat-tape systems specific to the panels that help clear sections that would in turn power the heat tape using very little power to help clear off the panels. In the meantime – a little heat tape along the bottom section may help.